A feature matrix for portals

A post about portals has to start with the release of JBoss Portal 2.0 (Jablok, June 21, 2005 — JBoss Portal 2.0 Is Out). If you want to see what it can do, look through the feature list. Our company is considering the Enterprise portal solution, so I was curious how it compared with other portals.

While looking for a feature matrix, a table comparing individual features, I found CMS Matrix. The site lets you compare any of the 368 listed portals across dozens of categories. Each portal also has its own page with a discussion and user ratings in several categories (System Requirements, Security, Support, Ease of Use, Performance, Management, Interoperability, Flexibility, Built-in Applications, Commerce).

Just to try it out, I compared the open-source CMS WebGUI with the commercial Oracle Portal. I was surprised how poorly the commercial product did. Then again, the feature list isn’t always what matters most when choosing a CMS…